By the Black Lake
by Blonde Pickle Mule
Summary: Winter's creeping into Hogwarts, and while most students prefer to curl up in the Common Rooms by the fire, four Hufflepuff girls decide to go and sit by the lake. Done for Hogwarts Online.


**This was done as Extra Credit homework for the Hogwarts Online Forum. I had to do soemthing about Hufflepuffs in Harry's year, made up or genuine, and write a drabble or short story about them using the words: Scarf, Winter, Flower, Tree, Blanket and water.**  
**I hope you like this: I had real trouble with the Common Room, because I've not paid it a lot of thought before.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, in any shape or form, own Harry Potter or anything to do with it.**

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The grounds of Hogwarts always looked beautiful this time of year. It was late Autumn, the first chills of winter creeping into the wind that blew the bright red leaves of the trees. Many students had retreated to the common rooms and the warm fires, but today a small group of 5th year Hufflepuffs had ventured out to the shores of the Black Lake.

A black and yellow scarf was wrapped firmly about each neck to keep out the cold, heavy black cloaks with silver fastenings being broken out for the first time. They made their way down the emerald sweeping lawn, down past the path to the greenhouses and up to the shores of the Black Lake. The water was lapping gently at the rocky shore, it's deep surface reflecting the rich Autumn sunlight.

The group of four girls settled under the shade of a knarled little tree still in flower, its blossoms a fiery orange against a backdrop of cool green. When they were sat on top of a faded tartan blanket, bags were produced and homework taken out in excess. OWL year was slowly taking its toll as the months wore on, each week the work becoming harder.

Hannah Abbott pulled a thick book on Herbology towards her and turned to the others. "Professor Sprout'll have our heads if we don't know this by next week." She sighed, flipping to the right page. The poor girl had never shown a natural ability at plant-lore, and was dreading her next lesson with the Venomous Tantacula. "Does anyone have some dragon-hide gloves I can borrow? That flipping plant _destroyed _mine yesterday."

Susan Bones lent forward with a smile. "You should ask Neville Longbottom for some help. You know how good he is at Herbology."

Hannah blushed a deep red at the mention of Neville and spluttered something about "not wanting to be a bother..." Hailey Saunders, a very forward girl with freckles and glasses pouted at her.

"Oh come on Han! You've liked him for ages, this is the perfect opportunity for you to talk to him!" They all giggled when their friend blushed even harder, covering her face with her hands.

"It wouldn't be so bad. He's very nice." Bridget Maitland chipped in, shrugging when everyone turned to look at her. "What? My mum's friends with his grandmother."

"You're one to talk Bridge!" Hannah told her, emerging from her gloves. "What about your three year infatuation with Seamus Finnigan?"

"Hannah! T-That's different!" Everyone looked at her. "Well...we need to get on with homework." she grabbed her potions essay resolutely and bit her lip.

"Why did I never know of this?" Hailey demanded, eyes gleaming behind the square rims of her glasses. "I never knew you were one for the accent!" She then proceeded to drill Bridget for details. ("How long has this been going on? How could I not have _seen?_")

"Well done, Hannah- you've unleashed the beast!" Susan laughed, watching Bridget's expression grow darker. She shrugged in response and pushed her wavy brown hair over her shoulder, smiling broadly. "But seriously, she likes Finnigan?"

"We have got to set you two up on a date!" Hailey exclaimed in delight, watching the horror spread over Bridget's face.

"You wouldn't!" At the unyielding expression she got, Bridget appealed to the diplomat of the group. "Susan! Stop her!"

"Lee, why don't you arrange something for me instead? You said you thought I'd go well with Terry the other day." Susan's wide but pretty face was bored, as if she'd been subjected to this many times before. "Now you've got to look at your Transfiguration homework, you're failing."

Hailey made a face and dug out a huge roll of parchment. "I tried the spell again last night, my rabbit still had wooden legs."

* * *

Just before curfew the girls finally made their way back up to the castle, the evening chill making the colour rise in their cheeks. They piled into the Entrance Hall breathless, revelling in the heat that washed over them. The wind had picked up just before they left the lake, pulling the girl's hair and giving them a throughtly wind-swept look. Hannah's brown eyes sparkled in the torchlight, while Susan's scarf had gone awry and was now somewhere round her elbows. Hailey's left leg was wet up to the knee from a small mishap involving the Black Lake and Bridget's long blonde curls had been mussed and tangled in her cloak clasp.

From the increasing volume coming from the Great Hall the friends deduced they had just enough time to drop their bags off in the Common Room before heading to dinner. They hurried through the corridors, past the kitchens and stopped in front of a polished suit of armour. Susan tapped it on the elbow and waited as its helmet swivelled to face her.

"Can we get into the Common Room please?" She asked it politely (if you asked rudely you wouldn't be going anywhere, Hufflepuff or not.)

"Password?" The deep voice seemed to echo throughout the metal.

"Quaffle Eggs." With a formal bow both the plinth and the armour swung forwards to reveal a narrow passage. Following it along it opened up into a large circular room with a domed ceiling. Firelight flickered in the wide hearth, casting long shadows over the varnished chestnut floorboards and illuminating the canary yellow sofas placed throughout the room. In honour of their founder's one weakness, a doorway off to the right was labelled "Stomach", concealing a passageway to the kitchens. The walls were hung with yellow tapestries, not so much that the colour was overpowering, but just enough to give the room an identity. A couple of doors led off to the dorms, and a large notice board was placed in the corner with a desk in front for the Prefects.

The girls headed off into their dorms and dropped their stuff off, then hurried back up to the Great Hall just in time for the food. Dinner was noisy, chatter bouncing off the Enchanted Ceiling. Susan was engaged in conversation with Ernie Macmillan as he explained in earnest the new patrolling scheme. Hailey was too engrossed in her food to talk to anyone much, but she nodded periodically to show she was listening to Bridget and Hannah as they complained vehemently against Umbridge's pink cardigan. It was made of hot pink angora tonight, coming down to her knees and giving everyone the impression she was wearing a boiler jacket.

They'd also been told that morning that there was going to be a meeting down in the Hog's Head next weekend, and nobody was quite sure what they were going to do about it. Susan and Bridget weren't sure, while Hannah and Hailey had already promised they would be there.

"I just don't know. What if we get caught? My aunt's told me about Umbridge- she can get nasty." Susan told the others, a frown creasing her eyebrows.

"And my dad works in her department at the Ministry. I don't want to feel like I'm betraying him." Bridget added, biting her lip.

"You won't be. We all know that something weird happened to Cedric Diggory last summer, whether Potter's story is true or not." Hailey stated bluntly, ripping a strip of chicken off her drumstick. "Your dad wouldn't want you completely unprepared, would he?"

She shook her head. "Alright then. I'm in. Susan?"

The ginger grinned. "Well I'm not likely to stay by myself, am I?"

When the meal was over, they all began to drag themselves towards the Common Room, Hailey back on the subject of boys in her food-induced stupor. "I don't know why you don't just talk to them. It's not like they're aliens. Especially Longbottom- even a bunny rabbit wouldn't be frightened of him."

"Precisely Han, dear. He's a really nice-"

"Seamus, Bridget." Hannah pointed her finger in the blonde's direction. "Seamus."

"Speaking of whom, he's heading towards the staircase now." Susan said from behind them, having bid farewell to Terry Boot a few seconds earlier. Hailey's face lit up.

"Five Galleons says she can't talk to him for five minutes without doing something really embarrassing." she shot, eyeing Bridget with a definite challenge in her eyes.

Bridget gulped, her eyes flickering from the crowd to Hailey. "Fine." She took a deep breath. "Fine." And with a shrug of her shoulders she walked towards the sandy-haired Irishman. Hailey looked far too self-satisfied.

"That was cruel." Susan told her admiringly. "You know Bridget's sworn to never let a bet pass."

"Obviously. That's why I did it." The three friends watched as Bridget tripped to make it look like Seamus had bumped into her. "Oh, nice move."

For a few minutes they stood there in silence, watching Bridget, Seamus and Dean start talking to each other. "Eh come on, she's alright. I'm tired."

Hannah yawned, leading the way back to the kitchens. Only Hailey stayed to spy on Bridget or "wait" for her as she put it. She wasn't there for long, as Bridget came back with a grin on her face. "So? What happened?"

"Not much really. He's really nice, and he says we should talk more...I have no idea what that means." she looked at Hailey, who didn't need encouragement- in fact she was practically skipping.

"Oh you little genius, you! This is perfect!" Bridget was yanked into a powerful hug. "You'll become friends, he'll fall in love with you, ask you to marry him...Come on, if you're going to woo him you need rest!" Hailey dragged her friend down the corridor, a stream of endless chatter bubbling out of her.

* * *

The moon shone brightly, almost full, dominating the night sky. Hogwarts was a black shadow against the landscape, the Forbidden Forest groaning and rustling. Turrets pierced the stars with not a cloud to be seen. Not even the owls were about, preferring to hunt away tonight, an almost eerie silence falling over the school. Hidden away in the dormitories the students slept, their heads filled with nightmares and dreams. Down in the Common Rooms house-elves worked, re-kindling the fires and sweeping the floors.

They smiled as they did their jobs, nodding approvingly at everything well placed and where it should be. The banisters shone, the suits of armour gleamed, the Trophy Room was in its usual splendor. Everything was well at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and the house-elves were glad.

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**Well...there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this. I personally thought the ending was a bit weak, but I do love Hailey. She was like my second conciousness writing this. And I know that the last bit was a bit random, but I wanted a bit from each part of the day and this seemed to work. I hope it's not too awful.**

**Review and tell me how I've done? Yes? No? I love you anyway :)**


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